Saturday, November 01, 2008

Walt Disney Treasures, Song of the South

On November 11th the 8th wave of Walt Disney Treasures DVDs will be released. I have bought just about all of the previous sets, and have found them to be of great value, with lots of rarely seen material!
This upcoming 8th wave includes 3 sets; The Chronological Donald,
Volume Four, Dr. Syn: The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh, and Mickey Mouse Club Presents: Annette. I am excited about the Chronological Donald, as I believe that this will complete the Donald Duck shorts, meaning I will have them all once I own this set! The other two sets, I will pass on, as neither sounds very interesting.
Now, if I had my way, there would be a few other sets to take the place of these two sets. For one, I would love to see a Song of the South Treasures set. Disney has held off on releasing this film because of its racial stereotypes. But the Treasures sets would be a perfect way to release the film, as it would be sold more to collectors than to the average family, and they could have Leonard Maltin do one of his spiels before the film. I already have the film as a Japanese laser disc and love the film. I do not have a laser disc player, but had a friend transfer it to VHS for me years ago. A new high quality DVD copy of the film would be great. And I am sure Disney could find some great extras to go along with the film, including some of the old cartoon shorts which have been shelved for years because of their controversial content.
Just for the fun of it, I have created my own Walt Disney Treasures Song of the South DVD tin cover. I don't know about you, but I'd be at my local DVD store on Tuesday morning to buy this!
Here's hoping Disney finally decides to release this long lost Disney gem!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Chronological Donald 4 is indeed the final collection for the duck. I too have collected them all as he's my favorite Disney character and love the shorts. It has a lot of the Humphrey Bear toons as well as some educational films like Mathmagic Land and Wheels. I work on the Treasures sets every year and I think that Song of the South would be an excellent addition to the collection: very fitting, seeing how Leonard Maltin is often giving some sort of disclaimer before these features. Should the day ever arrive, I'll be sure to pass the good word.

Ronn Roxx said...

Glad you found my blog! You work on the Treasures DVD sets...what do you do? I picked up the Donald Duck volume 4 set this past week and look forward to spending some time this coming weekend with a tub of popcorn, and sitting in front to the TV watching as many of the cartoons as possible!

I am a little disappointed with the other two sets from this wave. If I could rent them for $5, I would check them out, I 't bother purchasing them for $32.99.

Anonymous said...

Well, shamelessly I work on the dvd menu design... I've been working on them since Wave 5 (albeit small interaction w/it at the time). Some of them turn out great, others are limited due to client direction. Oh well, that's the business.

I agree that there have been a few duds released in the last few Waves. I will be watching Donald vol4 w/my brother this Thanksgiving though.

I was at Disneyland yesterday and started thinking about the reopening of the Sleepy Beauty castle, the murder of Small World (which will have incorporated Disney characters after the New Year) and how nothing is sacred anymore. While Splash Mountain might be themed Song of the South, its not overly characterized with familiar faces - its essentially an extended storybook ride. I will talk to a project manager at my work and see if I can contact Leonard re: Song of the South as part of Treasures.